Welcome to "Problems of our world"

By Kornelia Kostandin and Martina Markunovic

Chocolate

We are going to tell you something about the history of chocolate, how it’s produced and how about “Fairtrade“ chocolate, but first of all one little information about the popularity of chocolate.

Chocolate is for most of the countries in the developed world the 1^st  income stream, because cocoa is grown in tropical regions in these countries. 90% of cocoa is cultivated on small family farms (4.8 ha),  and most of the farmers count the turnover of these productions as their primary income.

The history of chocolate

The history began in Mesoamerica dating back to 1900 BC. Chocolate played a special role in Mayan and Aztec royal and religious events. Priests thought that cocoa beans are offerings of their gods. All areas which were used to plant cocoa beans had to pay them as a tax or “tribute“.

cocoa beans

The Europeans used the sugar and milk to sweeten the drink.

Chocolate was alwasy use for sweets and desserts but at first, just in Europe. In the 19^th century, Briton John Cadbury developed a process to make the chocolate solid and created the mordern bar.

For hundreds of years, nothing changed with the process but in the 18^th century the “revolution“ started. New machines were produced and the people began experiencing and consuming choclate worldwide.

A cheap chocolate

Althought cocoa is originally from the Americans, today Western Africa produces almost two-thirds oft he world’s cocoa.

The problems facing cocoa producers

·         Expensive production, but low prices

·         A lack of knowledge to find believable organizations

·         Lots of child and slave work in West African countries

·         In 2001 child slavery in cocoa farms, in the Ivory Coast, have grown 43% of the world’s cocoa.

Fairtrade logo

Solutions with the social movement “Fairtrade“

·         These producers are only small family granges

·         When the international markt price of a product is over the Fairtrade Minimum Price (comes immediately to the producers), then the farmers get this price + the Fairtrade Premium (is within the purchase price for social and economic investments).

·         Fairtrade also gives credits before the reaping (goes until 60% of the purchase price)

·         No child work and no constrained work


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A Fairtrade chocolate